“This is unfair!”, “This is uniform robbery!”, “We deserve a better attitude!” Such statements are typical of conflicts generated by what is perceived as injustice. But what, then, is “justice”? According to some social psychologists, people perceive justice as a balance: the distribution of rewards between individuals in proportion to their contribution to the common cause.
If you and I are in any relationship (employer — worker, teacher — student, husband — wife, colleague — colleague), then a situation can be called fair in which the ratio of my income to my contribution is equal to the ratio of your income to your contribution . If your contribution is greater and your earnings are less than mine, you will feel that you are being exploited and this will irritate you; At the same time, I can feel exploitative and feel guilty.
However, people can understand justice in very different ways. If suddenly a person receives more than he was due, he usually easily finds a rationale for this.
Where does injustice come from?
Predisposition in favor of themselves causes individuals and groups to take pride in their good deeds and absolve themselves of responsibility for bad deeds, denying others the right to do the same. trend towards self-justification aggravates the tendency of people to deny the harmful consequences of those evil deeds from which it is impossible to disown, and thanks to fundamental attribution error each side sees in the hostility of the other side a reflection of its hostile dispositions. The consequence of this is a situation in which a person filters information and interprets it in accordance with his prejudice. Often occurs in groups polarization these tendencies towards self-interest and self-justification. One of the symptoms group thinking is the perception of one’s own group as moral and strong, and the opponent’s group as immoral and weak.